A Name for Herself

by L. M. Montgomery

  “You are right, ‘Little Mother,’” said the Schoolma’am. “I haven’t forgotten how grieved and hurt I used to be when I was a wee mite, and found that grown people took no interest in what seemed so wonderful to me, or, what was even worse, laughed at or ridiculed some of my childish thoughts when I tried to express them. Oh, it cut right to the bone and marrow! It is a pity that most folks never seem to realize how sensitive the blossom of a child’s confidence is!10 At the first rude touch it shrinks and closes, never to re-open. By the way, ‘Little Mother,’ what are you doing?”

  “Little Mother” laughed.

  “Something foolish, I dare say you’ll think. You know I made these two print aprons for Lilian to wear to school. They were long, full, high-necked and long-sleeved – very neat and nice, I thought, besides being very serviceable. Well, when Lilian came home from school yesterday there were tears on her face. When I asked her what the trouble was, she said that the girls in her class had laughed at her aprons and called them ‘baby dresses.’11

  “So I am taking out the sleeves and cutting down the necks. I suppose many people would think me very foolish, indeed, but I don’t think I am. Of course, I think a mother should stand firm if a real principle were involved, and I don’t believe in humoring mere whims, or vanity either. But neither do I think that a mother ought to inflict unnecessary discomfort on a child. Lilian is very sensitive, and would really suffer if she had to go on wearing those aprons, at which her little world laughed. This seems very trifling to me, of course. But suppose I myself were compelled to wear abroad some garment, no matter how serviceable it might be, which my acquaintances ridiculed. I know how I would feel. So I didn’t try to scold or ridicule Lilian – and I’m fixing over the aprons.”

  “I know,” nodded the Schoolma’am, “when I was a little tot, an uncle brought me home a pair of embroidered deerskin moccasins from the west. My parents made me wear them to school, and I’ll never forget how I suffered. Looking back now, I know that the moccasins were really very sweet and pretty, and I wish somebody would give me a pair like them nowadays. But nothing like them had ever been seen in my small world before, and they seemed to me very odd and bizarre. Nobody else wore such things, and I felt as if everybody were looking at my feet. How I loathed and detested those poor little, gay little moccasins!”

  They both laughed. Then the “Little Mother” said:–

  “I’m going to ’fess to something else, so that you’ll not get too much of a shock when you see him. I had Teddy’s curls cut off to-day.”

  “Oh, ‘Little Mother!’” protested the Schoolma’am. “Why did you do it? I’ve approved of you right along, but I can’t – no, I can’t – approve of this. His lovely, long, golden curls!”

  “Well, I discovered that his lovely, long, golden curls were so many thorns in my little son’s soul. Oh, I hated to let them go. They did look so sweet and picturey when I combed them out over his velvet suit and lace collar. But poor Ted’s heart was broken. He said the other boys laughed at him and called him ‘girl-baby,’ and offered him curl-papers; and he just couldn’t stand it. I had a bit of a struggle with myself. Then I thought I had no right to make Ted’s life a wilderness of woe,12 just to gratify my maternal vanity. So I took Ted to the barber’s, and he is a shorn lamb now, bless his dear little round, close-clipped pate! He isn’t half so pretty, but he’s a great deal happier.”

  “What a wise Teddy to choose you for his ‘Little Mother,’” said the Schoolma’am, with a resigned sigh.

  BRIGHT SAYINGS

  Once upon a time there were mothers together, and they were telling the bright things their children had said. There was also a listener, who listened with interest because these were real speeches of real children, and not simply funny column emanations of grown-up brains.

  “Yesterday,” said Mrs. Wise, “I was giving my little boy a lesson in arithmetic. He is rather dull at figures and addition seems to be a sad stumbling block to him. ‘Now, Harry,’ I said, ‘if you had four candies in one hand and five in the other, how many would you have altogether?’ ‘A mouthful,’ promptly answered Harry.”13

  “That reminds me,” said Mrs. Milner, who had once been a schoolteacher, “of some answers that my pupils used to give me. One little chap, on being asked what a glacier was, said it was ‘a man who put in window frames.’”14

  “Gladys wanted to know the other day,” said Mrs. Campbell, “if her kitty had a soul, and if so, would he have a little heaven all to himself when he died.”

  “Last summer,” said Mrs. Price, “my sister’s little Mary, a small mite who had never been in the country before, spent a month with us on our farm. One day she said to me, ‘Oh, Aunt Lina, I feel so much gooder here than in town. Why, I feel so good that I say my prayers two or three times through the day.’”

  “The real humor of children’s sayings consists in their earnestness,” said Mrs. Haye, laughing. “They are always so very solemn. Last summer we spent a fortnight at a farmhouse, where they had several of those monstrosities known as ‘curly’ hens. Just as soon as four-year-old Henrietta caught sight of one of them, she exclaimed: ‘Oh, mamma, that hen has put on its feathers wrong side out.’”

  “There was another small boy in the second primer class who could not learn to spell. All his grey matter went into the theory and practice of mischief apparently. One day I was trying to get him to spell ‘speckled,’ but he could not get it right at all. At last, after trying every combination of letters you could imagine, besides several you couldn’t, he said, ‘Well, teacher, I can’t spell it but I know what it means.’ His impish grin might have warned me, but I was inexperienced, and said, rashly, ‘Well, Arthur, what does it mean?’ ‘George Howatt’s face, ma’am.’ George was celebrated in the school for his freckles. I had to laugh myself, and so did all the scholars. But I think George paid Arthur up for his joke at recess.”15

  “Since we are on this subject,” said Mrs. Sutherland, “I must tell you our latest family joke. The other day a gentleman, who gave his name as Mr. Lord, called to see Robert. I showed him the parlor and went out to find Robert. As I crossed the hall my little three-year-old Jack said, ‘Mamma, who is in there?’ ‘Mr. Lord,’ I responded, as I hurried out. Mr. Lord himself told me what happened after that. Jack pattered away to the parlor, pushed open the door softly, and tiptoed in, looking at the caller with an expression of mingled awe and curiosity. Mr. Lord held out his hand and said: ‘Well, little chap, come here.’ So Jack sidled up, put one grimy little hand on Mr. Lord’s knee, and said, very reverently, ‘Are you God?’

  “It took Mr. Lord some seconds to grasp the situation. Then he couldn’t help laughing so heartily that I fear poor Jacky’s ideas of Divinity got a rude shock. The tears welled up in his eyes and he ran indignantly away. When I heard the story I had to laugh, too. But it took me a good hour to comfort Jacky and straighten out his theology a bit.”16

  After the laugh which greeted Mrs. Sutherland’s story had subsided, Mrs. Norton said:

  “That makes me think of what Dottie said the other night. She is just three years old, too. That seems to be the worst age for visitations of acuteness. I had put her to bed at dusk and said to her, ‘Now, Dottie, you won’t be frightened to go to sleep here alone, will you? Just remember that God is right here with you all the time.’ ‘All right,’ responded Dot, cheerfully. I went down, but in a few minutes heard her calling me. Going to the foot of the stairs, I asked her what she wanted. ‘Oh, mamma,’ said a tearful voice, ‘won’t you come up here and stay wif God, and let me go down and stay wif papa?’”

  “Now,” said the minister’s wife, “I’m going to tell you what one of my Sunday School class said last Sunday. The lesson was on the translation of Elijah, and the falling of the mantle on Elisha. ‘Now,’ I said, at the end, ‘what was it Elijah left to Elisha when he went to heaven?’ At once a tiny maiden of five lisped out, gravely and reverently, ‘His old clo’es.’”17

  The mot
hers’ meeting broke up at this point, and the listener laughed and scribbled in her notebook.

  (1901)

  Christmas Shopping in Halifax Stores

  In addition to her “Around the Table” column, Montgomery was given by her Daily Echo editors a variety of occasional writing assignments, most of which cannot be identified because they are unsigned and omitted from her scrapbooks. One such task, which she mentioned both in her journals and in “The Alpine Path,” involved visiting all Halifax stores that advertised in the paper and writing up their holiday specials.1 Montgomery stated in both accounts that she had hated this work but neglected to mention the sheer volume of it. In nine unsigned instalments published between 9 and 19 December in the Halifax Daily Echo, Montgomery wrote up advertising copy for ninety stores, the pieces ranging from fifty to four hundred words; of these, twenty-four were reprinted in the Morning Chronicle. These ads amount to nearly thirteen thousand words, which is more than half the length of “The Alpine Path.” They cover a wide range of goods, including furniture, meat and groceries, musical instruments, cloth and clothing, kitchen appliances and labour-saving devices, shoes, suitcases, stoves and coal, games and toys, books and stationery, cigars and alcohol, jewellery and silverware, wallpaper, watches, lamps, and hats. Perhaps because Montgomery found this assignment onerous and perhaps due to the sheer volume of write-ups, several key phrases and terms recur throughout, including the qualifiers “splendid,” “first-class,” and “up-to-date.” What follows are some highlights from this assignment.

  AGAIN CHRISTMAS TIDE APPROACHES AND THE WIDE-AWAKE shopkeepers have made preparations for a good season’s trade. All branches of trade feel the effect of Christmas buying, and the consumer feels it perhaps most than all, but he grows reckless with his money in preparing for the season of peace and goodwill. At times he is bothered in the selection of goods and articles which he may deem suitable and worthy of the occasion, and in order to assist readers who might possibly find themselves in such a dilemma the Echo will take the liberty of calling attention to stores and shops where Christmas purchases may be made to advantage.

  N.S. FURNISHING CO.

  The large building of this well known firm on Barrington street now contains a stock that cannot be eclipsed in the Provinces.2 The variety is immense and the prices surprisingly low. None need want for the selection of Xmas gifts here. In parlor, chamber and dining-room suites there are hundreds to select from, and chairs of all styles and shapes are to be seen. A branch of this line that is taking well this season is the Morris chair for gentlemen, ladies and children.3 There are dainty pieces of furniture for the boudoir, cozy corner pieces, wardrobes and bookcases, and everything in the furniture line, including carpets, window curtains, blinds, and a splendid assortment of art furnishing wares. The firm have just fitted up two new art rooms, which are being largely visited. A very fine line of desks and ladies secretaries are shown, and also a complete stock of children’s furnishings.

  SCOVIL & PAGE

  Clothes may not make the man or boy, but they can make him warm and comfortable, and just now Scovil & Page, corner of George and Barrington streets, are showing a stock calculated to make many men and boys happy, and the goods are offered at prices that cannot be beaten. They are showing men’s overcoats at from $5 to $18, boys’ from $2.75 to $8.50, and boys’ reefers4 at from $1.50 to $5. Suits, coats, vests and pants are offered at equally reasonable prices, and all the goods are well made. The cloths include all the latest shades and patterns. Scovil & Page are agents for the famous Oxford tweeds and homespuns. In gentlemen’s furnishings they show a very complete stock. Ties and scarfs in all the newest shades and styles are offered, and the line of silk handkerchiefs is very extensive. Gentlemen’s jewelry is shown in profusion, and umbrellas and walking sticks are offered in great variety. They also carry a splendid line of underclothing. The window dressing at Scovil & Page’s is in itself a feature that attracts the public to the store.

  CRUMP & PERRIOR

  The firm at 25, 27 and 29 Barrington street are showing a large stock of kitchen and household requisites, and are receiving a generous patronage. The stock includes all the paraphernalia and hardware necessary to complete equipment of a first-class kitchen, and all the labor-saving novelties designed to lessen labor therein. Cooking utensils of all kinds are offered at the lowest cash prices, and if there is anything needed for the equipment of the kitchen that cannot be found in stock the firm can very quickly make it. They also show a fine line of cooking ranges and stoves, and here again low prices rule, though the goods are of first-class manufacture. Crump & Perrior are noted for first-class sanitary plumbing, and any work in that line can safely be entrusted to them.

  WOOD BROS.

  At Wood Bros., 107 and 109 Granville Street, you have a very wide range of choice in the selection of your holiday purchases. One window displays warm and handsome dressing jackets and dress goods, while the other is draped with bright figured cretonnes and art muslins, suggestive of cosy corners and comfortable, serviceable cushions. The display of laces is a feature of this store and there are several tables and show cases laden with novelties for the Christmas trade – pin cushions, candle sticks, vases, boxes, pomade jars, plates, inkstands and many more, at prices that are within reach of all. On all cash purchases of $1.00 and upwards a discount of ten per cent. will be given during December. They show some very handsome silk drapes and waists, aprons, umbrellas, woollen and kid gloves, handkerchiefs and silk neckwear, as well as damask tablecloths and napkins. They have a splendid assortment of ladies wrappers and under skirts, the latter coming in silk, flannel, felt, moire and sateen. They also carry a full stock of ready made capes and jackets in all prices and are prepared to suit every customer who is looking for bargains.

  E. & A. THOMPSON

  This well known meat and grocery firm at 217 and 214 Barrington street, have arranged for an especially selected stock of meats, poultry, etc., for the holidays and will make a display in this line calculated to make the mouth water. Turkeys, geese, fowls, chickens and ducks are now being fed especially for Thompson’s Christmas trade and all will be offered at the lowest possible prices. Meat is likewise being fattened for the trade, the cattle having been selected a short time ago. Besides these lines the firm offer everything in the grocery line, and so extensively are their goods used that three or four delivery teams are kept continuously going. They have a very complete line of canned and preserved goods and are noted for their butter and cheese. “The lowest market prices,” is Thompsons’ motto.

  McMANUS’ SHOE STORE

  Everybody must have footwear, particularly this time of year, and many are being supplied at P.J. McManus’ store, in the Aberdeen Building, at the corner of Barrington and Duke streets, because he keeps a good stock of boots and shoes and sells them at reasonable prices. Mr. McManus handles the celebrated King Quality shoes,5 of which it is claimed there are none better on the market. He offers gentlemen’s at $4.50 and ladies’ at $3. But this is only one line of the many shown. All styles and sizes are to be had and every buyer’s pocket can be suited. McManus shows a fine line of patent leather shoes and slippers for both ladies and gentlemen. Of slippers there is a great variety and rubber goods are to be had there in plenty, including low rubbers and high boots. There is a fine stock of overshoes and snowshoes, and hockey boots in different grades may be seen at McManus’.

  W. & C. SILVER’S

  Nobody is to be cold in Halifax this winter. That is what the display in one of the windows at W. & C. Silver’s store at the corner of George and Hollis means. Blankets, cushions and eider-down coverlets marked at holiday prices – the nicest of Christmas gifts to the home. In the other window the display is calculated to gladden the good housewife’s heart. It consists of household linen, towelling, tablecloths, napkins, bureau and sideboard scarfs, etc., to suit all tastes and purses.

  Inside the store the holiday exhibit of ladies’ shirt-waists is one of the most noticeab
le features. These useful and attractive garments range from 45¢ to $3.60 and higher, prices being marked wonderfully low in honor of the season.

  They are made up in sateen, alpaca, peau de soie, taffeta, flannel and flannelette in very dainty shades, such as old rose, pink, cream and blue, besides the darker and more serviceable colors for every day wear. All are made in the latest fashion and are natty and tastefully finished.

  This firm also has a fine stock of dress goods, especially in the newest designs of plaids and it has a good assortment of all the little knick-knacks that delight the eyes of Christmas shoppers – handkerchiefs, fans, gloves, purses, chatelaines, hand-bags, the popular lace goods, ties, collars and neckwear.